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Without realizing it, we spent nearly six hours in the café that day, talking, reading, me asking her a bunch of questions, and when I finally found out that the book was one she wrote for herself and the man who got away, I had to learn all there was about this Braxton character.
Their love was tragic before it even began. I do believe his intentions were noble, but it’s been a few years since they’ve spoken, and as I read this newest love story of hers, I’m very tempted to sneak into her phone to get his contact details and tell him she needs him.
Joss is going to her first book signing since she began publishing two years ago. Her freshman book was a memoir about her life growing up in a cult and her father being the cult leader. When I saw she hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and didn’t celebrate it, I took her out for the fanciest dinner I could afford, and we went dancing afterwards. She’d never danced before. Not even for fun.
As it turns out, there’s a multitude of things she hasn’t done in her short life. After deciding to move in together in a downtown townhouse, I made it my mission to help her live a little.
Which is how the book signing came about. Motorcycles, Mobsters, and Mayhem. It’s right around the corner in Houston, and my dear friend has been a mess about it. Given that I’m the model on her latest release, the male model, Tyler, and I have agreed to attend with her.
Her next release, the one I’m currently alpha reading for her, is a motorcycle club romance, and the hero is what every girl’s dreams are made of. He’s alpha, obsessive, possessive, and has this dark edge to him. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty when it comes to the girl that turns his world on its axis.
If I’m being brutally honest, this is the fourth time I’ve read the book because the hero reminds me insanely of Cage Craven.
My very own hero.
Only he didn’t like me as much as I liked him.
To Cage, I was a mistake.
Sneaking away while he was asleep and catching the first flight back to Arizona was a cowardly thing to do. I know that. Joss has told me that, but even if I wanted to change things, I wouldn’t know how to get a hold of him. But I need to figure it out because Cage not only took my most precious gift, he also gave me one.
“Drink this.” Joss hands me a cup of raspberry tea, eyeing the way I’ve been rubbing my stomach. Morning sickness is not nearly as easy as I’ve read about. It interrupts my day numerous times.
“You’re a mind reader.” I smile gratefully up at her as I accept the tea. It’s one of the few things that calms my nerves.
“Do you want to see what I got today?” Her eagerness brightens her eyes in a way I haven’t seen before. I nod immediately.
Dashing off to the hallway, she comes back with a big box. Popping the top open, she pulls out the lanyards and iron-on patches that have her latest series name and logo on them for the book signing.
“These are incredible!” Joss has been ordering swag for readers for months now, never sure what they’ll like or want the most of. “I think these are going to be a huge hit.” Nausea forgotten, I pull one of each out, ready to stash them away so I can have them too. She laughs and hands me an envelope that contains even more than what’s here. “Seriously, this stuff is like crack. I can’t stop collecting it.”
Her head shakes at me, and I see the anxiety in her eyes. I’m not privy to all of Jossilyn’s past, even after having read her memoir, but I know she’s still hiding from her family. She lives in fear every day of the retribution she’ll face if they ever find her.
To be honest, it wouldn’t be hard. Aside from all her bills being under the name of her publishing company to give her that sense of anonymity and our townhouse lease being in my name, I don’t think she’s covering her tracks all that hard.But what do I know?I ran away to South Africa to avoid life and hid in a school where it caught up with me anyway.
We’re two inherently broken people trying to fake it until we make it. Or until we can’t fake it anymore. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” I remind her. Even though we’re both crazy shy and hate the spotlight, I try my best to get her to come out of her shell. But then I spot her fear and doubts, the ones that echo my own, and I offer her an out. It’s a complicated life.
“I know,” she whispers as she lays one of the black lanyards across her thigh, the scars of her previous existence stark against her fair skin. “I want to, though. It’s time I start living and stop hiding from my own shadow.” Nightmares still haunt her. The number of times we’ve woken each other from sleep due to what troubles us is a nightly occurrence.
“Wellll…” I draw the word out, and her head pops up, eyes narrowing on me. “Seeing as we’re going, and it’s in just a couple of short weeks, what do you say we go pick out our outfits to dazzle those beautiful readers with?” Since Tyler and I agreed to come, she’s had dozens of messages from excited readers about meeting the characters fromAlign.
“Aren’t you worried if you buy something now, it won’t fit then?” Her hand motions at the oh-so-tiny baby bump growing in size on the daily.
“Spandex, my friend.” I wink to ease her worry, but inside, I’m a mess. This was not how my life was supposed to go. I never thought I would have children or love, and after the shooting in Arizona, I was positive it would never happen. But here I am.
Pregnant and alone.
Turns out, I was only wrong about one of those things.
* * *
Cage
Corpus Christi, Texas. The underbelly of Satan’s balls with its fucking heat. I can’t believe this is where she chose to call home. I watched as Magnolia and the girl she rooms with left hand-in-hand, like lovers but with the closeness of sisterhood. I know they aren’t a couple; my Magnolia was too much fire under me when I took her innocence. But the other one, I don’t know enough about her yet, which is why I’m standing in their living room, ruffling through their belongings.
From what I’ve gathered so far, the other girl is Jossilyn Marlowe, famous author of a couple of books, best friends with my sweet pet, and in a couple of weeks, she’s attending some book signing in Houston.
Magnolia is going with her.
